A printer that records information such as characters or images on a sheet-like recording medium such as a paper sheet or film is widely used as an information output apparatus for word processors, personal computers, facsimile machines, and the like.
Various methods are known as recording methods for printers. An inkjet printing method can realize non-contact printing on a recording medium such as paper. This method has been attracting attention recently because it easily prints in color, and is quiet. As the configuration for an inkjet printing method, a serial recording system is well known that performs recording while reciprocally scanning a carriage mounted with a recording head that discharges ink in response to recording information in a direction intersecting the transport direction of a recording medium such as a paper sheet. In general, the serial recording system is widely used for reasons including low cost and easy downsizing.
In the serial recording system, recording is carried out by scanning a carriage mounted with a recording head over a recording medium. Therefore, in a recording apparatus (printing apparatus) according to the serial recording system, a recording area in the scanning direction of the recording head is divided into a plurality of areas, and the apparatus has a buffer that stores recording data in units for the divided areas.
In this type of recording apparatus, when storing recording data in units for divided areas in a buffer, the apparatus compares information that changes the storage area of recording data for each color with the remaining amount of buffer available for storage and a write address update amount. The recording apparatus includes a writing control section that controls write address information of recording data of unit areas for each color based on the comparison result (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-305896).
The recording apparatus further comprises a reading control section that controls, for each color, reading address information for reading recording data that was stored in the buffer, and record data generating means that generates recording data of the divided area units in accordance with the recording data that was read based on the reading address information.
In the conventional recording apparatus configured in this manner, although a read address in a recording buffer is referred to at the time of write control to the recording buffer, the read address is not updated each time data is read out, and instead addresses are updated after all the data of one block is read out (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-305895).